Cuo bian, the neighbours
The people who live next door; cuo bian tao buei takes in every household along one lane, from one end to the other.
Pronunciation cuò biān｜Houses and settlement｜One entry in the Chaoshan glossary
What it means
Cuo bian is literally the side of the house, and it means the households living close by. Cuo bian tao buei runs the whole length of a lane, head to tail, and draws a firmer boundary than the word neighbour does.
The word comes with obligations. Neighbours are people you deal with: borrowing, watching a door, helping at a funeral all rest on them. The circle is small, one lane or one corner. When there is a death they come of their own accord and are not asked; when a family moves away the tie thins.
How it is used
Cuo bian nang is the neighbourhood; cuo bian tao buei is the people of this patch. For a wedding or a funeral banquet they are certain to be there.
Words easily confused
Cuo bian is a relation between neighbours, fang qin a relation within the clan; the two often overlap and are not the same thing, since the people in one lane need not share a surname.
Read next: Chaoshan speech and standard Chinese, side by side.
Same group: cuo, the house, cheng, the paved yard, ancestral hall.
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Last revised: 3 November 2026